By Alieu Jalloh
Kanikay, a slum community located in the East-end of Freetown, notorious for hosting criminals, ghettos, drug dealers, and drug abusers, has been raided by a Joint Operations Team comprising General Duties and OSD personnel of the Harbour Police Division.
The Police raids on these ghettos were prompted as a result of the alarming misuse of the deadly Kush drug and its attendant health complications for its users. During the raids, dozens of ghettos used for drug abuse and other organized criminal activities were demolished by the Police.
Before the raids, the Local Unit Commander of the Harbour Police Division, CSP Mr. Emmanuel Kpulun warned his Operations Team to “be professional but firm and uncompromising in the fight against illicit drugs, particularly the deadly Kush. Let us do this for the good of our country,” he pleaded.
The Officer Commanding the Operations Support Division (OSD) of the Harbour Police Division, ASP Mr. Mohamed Mansaray advised his personnel to be alert during raids on drug dealers. Thus, he remarked that “do not overtly rely on the friendliness of the communities you are raiding. Situations can change at any time”, he warned.
The Operations Officer of the Harbour Police Division, Inspector Alpha Umaru Jalloh led the demolition of dozens of ghettos which eventually went ablaze as members of the Kanikay Community applauded the Police for bringing down decade-old ghettos that had destroyed the future of many able-bodied men and women of their community.
“……we are grateful to the Harbour Police for stepping up to the Kush menace. We had long hoped for these raids. We are pleading with the Police to sustain the raids”, commented Komrabai Kamara a local boat carpenter at Kanikay Wharf.
Sento Sesay, a staff of Holland Shipping Company located at Kanikay Community urged the Police to “arrest and prosecute the importers, distributors, and sales agents of Kush. We are hurt by how young men and women are perishing from the use of Kush”, she lamented with tears rolling down her eyes and flooding her sad face.
Several premises suspected of hosting drug lords were searched, including that of the popular Yusif Abu Sesay alias DJ Skinny of the Kanikay community. Quantity of drugs, reasonably believed to be Kush was seized by the Operations Team and is being treated as exhibits by the Police.
As the four-hour-long raids on drugs came to an end, the Police encouraged members of the public to provide credible information that may help in the identification, arrest, and prosecution of those involved in the Kush trade.
